Spanish culture beyond Shakira
The Sunburst Lounge featured Gloria Estefan, Shakira and Ricky Martin as some of the familiar faces in Latin culture. Their names shared attention with many Latin countries Tuesday through Thursday in the Taggart Student Center.
The Hispanic Student Union displayed posters to honor and recognize the Spanish culture with facts, pictures and biographies.
Maria Cordero, assistant professor and an adviser for the HSU, said she asked her Spanish 1010 and 2010 classes to participate in the display. She said it is important for students at Utah State University to “learn more about the Spanish culture and other cultures.”
Cordero’s 1010 class did their project about the different Spanish countries. She said she was pleased with the results and how her students took and interest to the project.
“The HSU is so small and it became a lot of work for them, so I asked my students to help,” she said.
Sara Wilkey, senior majoring in history, said she did her display on Brazil, and studied their art, Capoeira.
“It’s from the African slaves that introduced it to Brazil,” Wilkey said. “It’s popular now, and practiced all over the world.”
Her poster was one of the many that were displayed.
Jessica Rockwood, senior majoring in liberal arts and science, said it has helped the class learn outside of the United States culture.
She said it’s nice to have a better “understanding to the different cultures.”
Kim Webb, an undeclared sophomore, said USU has a lot of diversity.
“Those who serve LDS missions jump inside a country and get experience and different views,” Webb said.
She said she wants “first-hand experiences” like that. Ann Crowther, a sophomore majoring in biology, said it’s more than just former missionaries.
“There are a lot of different people from different cultures on campus,” she said.
Not only were the different countries displayed, but also many artists and celebrities in the Spanish culture.
Cordero said she had her 2010 class work on the biographies. She said she assigned them to her students and let them chose “with their own interest” who to write about. It was fun to see who they chose, she said.
“I have science students and engineering students,” she said. “They all have different ideas and interests.”
Mandy Yeager, a senior majoring in German and English secondary education, said she was impressed with the display. She said the display was interesting and educational as she was taught a few facts too.
“Dali was a Spanish artist, I didn’t know that,” she said. “And I’ve been a fan of his paintings for a while.”
Susanna George, a junior majoring in history and Spanish, said it was nice to see Hispanic celebrities on the display. She said it is important for students to notice how they have influence people in the United States.
Ernesto Lopez, a senior majoring in Spanish and president of HSU, said the display is to educate the student community. It’s just not about Spain and Mexico, he said. There are a lot of other countries he said people should be aware of. He said they displayed Spanish celebrities so people know “there are writers and artists that are known.”
“It’s not only Ricky Martin and it’s not only Shakira and others we know about in the states,” Lopez said. It’s about other people that do a lot for the world.”
Most culture clubs have displays with posters or artifacts, Lopez said. The HSU wanted to have a summary for their display with facts of each country.
He said he was thankful for Cordero’s classes for their help. It was good for her class to have that experience, he said.
Cordero said her students enjoyed learning about the different cultures they even “expressed interest in going to Mexico with the Spanish Club.”
-srkrebs@cc.usu.edu